To be fair, I'm not reimagining it, Curtis Sittenfeld handled that. In her novel, Rodham, Sittenfeld creates an alternate universe of Hilary's life if she hadn't married Bill. A "what if" story of sorts, kind of like what Judd Apatow's doing with this new Pete Davidson movie. When I was like eight I first watched the movie Hook, and thought it was the most fucking genius thing ever created. To depict surrogate lives for characters we already know in and out is my favorite kind of story telling.
Here is my disclaimer paragraph. I did not vote for Hilary. I did not vote for Trump. I did not vote for anybody because I don't vote. Like I've said before, if you stand for nothing, you must love laying. That's me. If my own father was a presidential candidate I don't think you could convince me to leave my house and wait in a line to stand in a voting booth. I also didn't read this book. I'm looking at it from a strictly historical and entertainment point of view. Ok cool.
What I'm about to say probably goes against everything that this novel was written for but... Hilary was kind of a looker in her day. I mean that as a compliment. Shit, I don't think you can say that either. I think Hilary was pretty. Is that appropriate? Hope so. I always just assumed that Hilary was born in a pants suit with a stapled on smile. This retelling of her life sent me down a rabbit hole of pictures of Hilary when she was younger. It was like I was seeing her as a person for the first time. I had never actually ruled out that she's a robot.
In the novel Hilary denies Bill's proposal for good this time and gets the fuck out of Arkansas. Which to me, always seemed like the much more logical decision. From what I've gathered, after graduating from Yale, Hilary establishes her own life in the political limelight through women's rights activism. She eventually runs against Bill for president who takes on a Trump like role. So for literature's sake, Bill is our antagonist of the story.
I imagine Bill's character in Rodham is worth the price of admission. Sittenfeld recently admitted in an Air Mail interview that she felt like she "fell in love" with Bill while reading his autobiography for her own research. Imagine creating a villain that's so charming you can't help but fall head over heels for him. The book contains the scene of Bill and Hilary's actual first date where he sneaks them into closed art gallery by promising to do some landscaping for the venue. They don't call him Slick Willy for nothing. I'd love to rid myself of the droopy eyed version of Bill for a bearded hippy persona who oozes charisma. America just can't quit Bill Clinton.
Regardless of your opinion on Hilary, there is no denying that she is arguably the most powerful woman in United States history. It's a cool concept to imagine what life could have been like for our almost 45th president had she gone another route. Spoiler alert maybe, she probably becomes president and it will make you wonder if it was all worth it. If that upsets you, I don't know, don't read the book. I'll probably give it a read. I think for me, it will humanize an icon that Twitter and I once considered being a lizard alien planted by the underground controlling race of the planet.
*Bonus picture of Hippy Bill*
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